In view of the increasing degree to which vehicles are automated, driver-assistance systems of ever increasing complexity are being used. Driver-assistance systems and functions of this type, such as highly automated driving or fully automated driving, require a large number of sensors in the vehicle that allow for an exact detection of the vehicle environment. In the following text, “more highly automated” refers to all degrees of automation that correspond to an automated longitudinal and transverse guidance with increased system responsibility within the definition of the Bundesanstalt fur StraBenwesen (BASt) (Federal Institute for Road Management), e.g., partially automated, highly automated, or fully automated driving. In order to control a motor vehicle in such a more highly automated manner, it is necessary, for instance, to locate the motor vehicle itself, to guide it in a preferred traffic lane, and to execute driving maneuvers such as a parking maneuver within a parking lot.
Various possibilities for carrying out such a localization are known from the related art. In the case of parking lots, for example, the occupancy status is able to be transmitted via radio to a server after a further dynamic or static object has been localized on a digital map of a highly automated vehicle (HAV), for instance using surface-integrated magnetic-field sensors.
It is furthermore known that a representation of the vehicle environment, referred to as an environmental model, is able to be set up using different vehicle-internal ambient-environment sensors such as radar sensors, cameras, driving-dynamics sensors, GPS (global positioning system) and/or digital maps. The highest priority in this context is the achievement of greater accuracy and safety as well as the achievement of a larger visual range in comparison with individual data sources.